1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a system for communicating current information regarding an animal to a remote user of the system. More particularly, this invention pertains to a system for detecting and compiling information indicative of particular conditions and actions of the animal and for communicating the information to a network such that the user can access the information from a remote location.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a result of work, school, and other obligations, most pet owners cannot be with their pet at every moment of every day. However, some pets, due to various conditions, behaviors, and circumstances, require some form of monitoring throughout each day or at least at particular times. Conventional monitoring devices that detect particular conditions and actions of a pet are many and include pet thermometers, heart monitors, and other physiological monitors, bark detecting devices, electronic pet confinement systems, pet repellant devices, and video cameras. However, conventionally, only the results captured by a video camera could be transferred to a remote location, such as the pet owner's place of work or school, where the pet owner could monitor the results. Consequently, conventional pet monitoring devices, except video cameras, are limited in that the results rendered by the devices cannot be perceived at a location remote to the animal. Additionally, video cameras as pet monitoring devices are limited in that they cannot monitor physiological conditions of the pet, and they cannot record and summarily display the frequency and time of certain occurrences, such as barks or breaches of an electronic pet confinement system. Additionally, a video camera's already limited information gathering capabilities are further limited to the field-of-view of its lens. Also, transferring information gathered by a video camera to a remote location, as is typically accomplished by way of the Internet, is a cumbersome task in that the information must either be streamed, which is problematic with certain Internet connections, or the information must be gathered in discrete blocks and transferred, which creates large files to be transferred and downloaded. Consequently, a system that can detect current conditions and actions of the animal, communicate information indicative of the detected conditions and actions to a remote location, and summarily present the information to the system user at the remote location is desired.